Here's the breakdown. Ask, and ye shall receive. :)
Me (26), Wife (24), Girlie (4), Kiddo (3). We live in NW WA and have a paid off house (1100 sq. ft.) I deliver pizza (otherwise we could easily go down to only one car).
Some notes about the budget:
-These are daily living expenses. Remodeling expenses I am not counting, because I consider those savings (since they directly improve the value of my assets).
-Any travel/vacationing we do is entirely optional, and is funded by CC rewards, from the Amusement fund, or from "found money". I keep a "Travel" line-item merely to keep track of what I have available to spend in this category, while allotting it $0 as a regular item.
-The house is paid off. Before it was paid off, the mortgage payment was $300/mo.
Utilities..................... $230 [Electric, water, sewer, garbage, recycling, and city ambulance service]
Property Tax............. $106
Gas & Fuel................ $100 ['95 Civic 4-door automatic (35-38mpg), '96 Civic hatchback manual (43-46mpg)]
Personal Care.......... $75 [Toiletries, diapers, aspirin, sunscreen, etc.]
Auto Insurance........ $55
Home Supplies......... $50 [Laundry soap, books, music, home maintenance, etc.]
Clothing................... $42
Home Insurance....... $39
Food......................... $150
Auto Maintenance.... $30 [Oil changes, repairs, etc.]
Internet................... $22
Birthday Presents.... $20
Amusement.............. $20 [Fun activities, whatever]
Life Insurance.......... $17
Education................. $15 [Homeschooling supplies]
Home Phone............ $10
Vision....................... $10 [4y/o wears glasses]
License/Registration $9
Travel....................... $0 [Funded by CC rewards]
That's a great number! If I recall correctly, you have a paid-off house, while the Fiskers didn't and were including the cost of rent/van-living/under-bridge tolls. It's extremely difficult to beat that level of spending when rent is thrown into the mix.
I could include the mortgage, count the kids, and divide by four instead of two....but that would feel like cheating. The kids put together probably eat about as much as a single adult, so I guess I could count them as a half-person each. $1300/3 = $434 per person per month, compared to the Fiskers' $584. ;)
Is there something you're looking to improve on? This community is really badass, so even if few people spend as little as you overall there are probably quite a few that do any one specific area better.
I think the biggest possible improvement lies in the utility bill somewhere. But advice/suggestions from anyone who has a better plan for any of my budget lines is welcome.
Re: utility bill. Some elements are fixed costs, which won't change regardless of usage:
City taxes: $7.70
Electricity base: $18.23
Water base: $29.26
Garbage [lowest possible rate + free recycling]: 19.51
Sewer: $66.33
Total fixed utilities = $141.03
The variable water charges are generally in the range of <$5.
If our water usage gets higher than 429 cubic feet, then higher rates apply, and sewer rates bump up. Usually this is not the case, though; it was for last month because the kids were playing outside with the hose, etc., but after seeing the bill, I'm limiting their usage (and it's getting colder, so they won't be as much anyway).